Ranga
by Elvarya 85
Summary: When Ranga's life goes wrong, she must travel with Miff, a strange boy with a mysterious past, her best friend Yarye, and a friend named Jyda, who is also looking for someone, but life-altering revelations plague her at every turn. Can she survive this?
1. Prologue

3

**Ranga **

**Prologue **

"Find it!"

So screamed the Dictator. The men there flinched in unison.

He was screaming at the General and the fifty soldiers gathered there. These men had received specialized training for their assignment. And they had failed. They'd been guarding a high security prison. The highest security prison in all of Slamina. And they'd failed. Three people had broken in and pulled off a prison break, leaving with the highest security prisoner there. The punishment for this failure must surely be death.

"M-My Lord…" stuttered the General. He was afraid. He was one of the toughest men in the Empire. And he was afraid. The General tried again.

"My Lord," the he said, his voice gaining confidence. This did not please the Dictator. "I take full responsibility for this loss and I assure you, it shall be dealt with accordingly."

"Well finally!" exclaimed the Dictator, grinning," Somebody I can punish!"

The General's breath caught. Chills crept up his spine and he began to sweat. People were known to not come back from punishment.

The General waited for the Dictator to speak. When he finally did, his fears were in no way alleviated.

"I guess I'm feeling merciful today," _Oh no! _thought the General, _This is not good!_ "I suppose I won't punish you. We seem to have an… overabundance of prisoners at the moment and the… waiting list- I guess you could call it that- seem to have grown quite long lately. So I won't torture you."

"Oh, thank yo-" But the General never finished his sentence. He was cut short as the Dictator, in one swift motion, drew his sword and threw it, easily dispatching the General.

The Dictator retrieved his sword and wiped it clean on the General's clothing. As he returned to his throne, he noticed his wife, Yelena, smiling cruelly. The Dictator suppressed a shiver.

The Dictator often thought of himself as fearsome. He often thought that it was he who scared the troops so. But, in truth, it was the cruel woman beside him that often had the men fainting in fear. Those were the men unworthy to serve in the army, unworthy to live and create more cowards.

Then the Dictator addressed the troops.

"Let this be a lesson to the rest of you," he said, making his voice impassive, but making no attempt to hide the cruelty and contempt in his eyes. "I do not take kindly to criminals and traitors and least of all," he spat the next word, as if he tasted something foul. "_Disloyalty_. Any more failures, any more losses, and you, like the good General her," he kicked the General's cold, lifeless corpse. "will die. DO I MAKE MYSELF CLEAR?"

"Yes, My Lord!" replied the troops in unison.

The Dictator continued with his speech. "SO FIND THE DRAGON! IT'S BIG, YELLOW, AND FLYING AROUND! YOU MUST BE BLIND IF YOU CANNOT SEE IT! LOOK UP YOU DIM MINDED FOOLS! AND…" the Dictator paused a moment to regain his composure. "And the next person to bring me ill news WILL BE BLIND! Now GO!"

The troops bowed and left. The Dictator sat by Yelena and waited, listening.

"Now, now…" she soothed, her voice like nails on a chalkboard.

"Shush," the Dictator silenced her. Yelena looked away darkly.

"And what, exactly, are we listening for?" she inquired impatiently after a few moments, noting the look on her husband's face. Then she heard it. The sound of fifty men screaming.

Yelena quickly figured it out. Calling the men here, a quick, whispered conversation with the executioner before calling the men. She smiled cruelly.

All at once, the screaming stopped. All was quiet. _Silent as the grave_ thought Yelena. She smiled wider at her all too appropriate metaphor. They could not afford to have disloyal soldiers. There was no need to ask questions.

And Executioners did their job well.


	2. Ten Years To the Day

2

**Chapter One**

**Ten Years to the Day…**

Ranga woke up and immediately sank back into her blanket. She wished she hadn't woken up. She had dreamed that her father had come back, and taken them off to a grand palace. She had dreamed that he loved her and actually cared about what happened to her and her family.

On any other day, she would have already been in the village gossiping with her best friend, Yarye. But not today.

Ten years to the day…

This was a special day to Ranga and Arng. For them, it was a day of sadness, of mourning. For Aida, their older sister who had taken care of Ranga since she was seven, and Arng was four, it was no different from any other day in Ringory.

Exactly ten years before, Ranga's father had abandoned her family because of financial problems. And then, just three yeas later, as Ranga's family was struggling to get by, the Dictator came to power. When the Dictator had come to power, he had raised taxes. A lot. That only made things worse.

Aida decided to lease a room out to a tenant, a man she had met in the village. He had seemed trustworthy at first, but while Ranga and Arng were playing, they entered the man's room. Once there, they found piles and piles of their missing possessions. The man had been caught stealing.

After they had kicked the man out, Aida had stormed through the house, gathering up their unnecessary possessions as she went and she had sold them in the village, against Ranga and Arng's wishes. They needed the extra money, she had said.

That year, they had not starved, but just barely. They'd had almost no meat. They could not afford to pay the butcher's prices. They slaughtered their bull for food. They ate some meat immediately. The rest, they had to preserve, causing the meat to get tought and rubbery.

When spring came, they spent almost all of their money on seeds in the village. Many of the farms around theirs had eventually given up and decided to sell the land cheap. Using the rest of their money, they had bought more land.

For a year, Ranga was miserable. She was getting very pale and sickly looking. Ranga spent more time than ever outdoors, but she continued to look deathly pale. Her energy was running out. When spring came again, Ranga could hardly go five minutes without taking a break.

By the fall, there was only one other, smaller, farm in Ringory, and when Ranga's family sold their crops at the market, they were happy to find a sizeable profit in the year's money.

The next few months were the best of Ranga's life. The family could afford to buy the best cuts form the butcher and they made even more money by selling the leftovers of the horrid, preserved meat from the winter.

For the first time in Ranga's life, she actually enjoyed the winter, and received gifts on her birthday.

Ranga's life had completely turned around. It had, in no way, been easy and, when autumn came, Ranga still loathed the chore of separating the seed from the crop, but now they could afford to hire farm workers, so they didn't have to do it all themselves.

Often, Ranga heard Aida muttering in her sleep. She often heard her saying that she would never take father back. They alone had made a better life during the ten years of the Dictator's reign. They alone had taken advantage where others could not. Why should he deserve a second chance?

_No _Ranga would think. _Everybody deserves a second chance. Including father. _Nevertheless, Ranga knew deep down that she would never get a chance to beg Aida to take father in. And father would never live with them again.

No matter how much she wished, no matter how much she dreamed, it was not true, Ranga could not get over that one fact. Father was not coming back.


	3. Broken

4

**Chapter Two **

**Broken**

Then it happened…

Ranga's father was seen in Ringory. And Arng went missing. Her father, her brother, they were both gone. But Ranga went looking for them every day for two weeks.

At the end of the second week, Ranga returned home after an especially long search. She was losing hope. If she didn't find anything in a couple of days, she was going to give up. She opened the door and walked in.

"Aida," she called, her voice echoing in the empty house. "Aida!" she called again.

Fear coursed through Ranga. Aida had not left the house since Arng had gone missing. _Something is wrong _thought Ranga, but she didn't know what.

She walked into her sister's room to find her worst nightmare.

"Aida!" Ranga cried. Aida's cold, lifeless body hung limply from the ceiling.

Ranga flung herself onto her sister's bed and sobbed. Her hand brushed something- parchment, a real luxury in Ringory. With trembling hands, Ranga slowly unfolded the tearstained paper and read it, to her increasing horror.

_Ranga, _

_I am so, so sorry that you had to find out this way. I cannot do this anymore. My entire family is dead. We can never be together again in this life. So I have decided to move onto the next. To be with our father. And our mother. And our brother. Forever. I'll see you soon. Once again, I am so, so sorry. _

_Goodbye, _

_I'm sorry!_

_Your Sister, _

_Aida _

_P.S. I love you! If he is still alive, please try to find Arng. Tell him I love him. Take care of yourself._

Ranga felt another wave of sobs coming. What had come over her sister? She had known that Aida was depressed- that was to be expected-but never ha Ranga thought Aida to be suicidal. She hadn't even thought her sister able to kill herself.

What had happened? What had she missed? This did not seem like her sister at all. But the note was obviously written in Aida's hand. Ranga would recognize her writing anywhere.

Then the screaming started. It was so loud! Ranga's ears were in agony and it was all she could do to curl into a ball on the bed and cover her ears, waiting for the screaming to stop.

Finally, after what seemed like hours, the screaming stopped. Ranga left the house.

Ranga strained her ears to hear something-anything-from the village. But Ringory was silent. As Ranga listened, she heard something behind her house.

_Probably just some animals,_ she thought and kept walking. Ranga came to the edge of Ringory and looked around. Though she was at the main road, the street was completely vacant, even though it was noon, the busiest time in Ringory. Ranga continued walking, her stomach twisting with anxiety. She heard a whimper behind her and turned. There sitting on the porch, was a boy.

Ranga forced herself to get over the shock. _Why shouldn't there be a boy here? _She asked herself. She cautiously walked over to him. He was completely unfamiliar to her but something about his face reminded her of somebody. As if he was related to somebody she knew.

"Hello," she said, forcing the relief out of her voice. "Are you alright? Are you hurt?"

The boy managed to choke out a quiet "No," before he collapsed into sobs. Ranga momentarily wondered which question he was answering, or if he was answering either one.

"It's okay," she said soothingly. She was abruptly caught up in the irony of the situation. Normally, she would be, at this moment, getting comforted by her closest friends and family. Instead, _she _was comforting this strange boy, and she didn't even know why. "It's okay. It will be fine." Then Ranga broke down, too.

Ranga and this strange boy cried together, even though they were total strangers, until finally, their tears ran dry. They were simply happy to have another person there, with them, crying with them.

After the tears, the boy was the one to break the silence. "Sorry about that," he said. "I'm Miff."

"Miff…"Ranga repeated, trying to remember if she had ever heard the name before. She hadn't.

"I'm Ranga," she said, noting the look on Miff's face. His eyes go wide. "What?" Ranga demanded.

"N-Nothing," Miff replied, his voice flat. "I-I just…knew somebody named Ranga once." He finished quickly.

She gave him a questioning look. She knew he was lying-her parents had made up her name. It made her unique, they had said. But, to Miff's relief, she did not pursue the matter. She was not in the mood. They sat there in silence until Ranga's empty stomach forced her to move.

"Come on," she looked at Miff and stood up. "We'll go and…"she trailed off as she saw it. A pile of bodies-all of the villagers-burning in the field in front of her house. The field had then lit and her house was completely consumed by flames. Ranga fell to her knees.

"Home," she whispered. Her sister, her brother, her father, her best friend, they were all gone. They were all she'd had. Her life had gone from worse to plummeting off a cliff, and Ranga thought briefly of doing so, but something stopped her thoughts in their tracks.

Somebody had to get revenge on whoever was to blame this horrid, disgusting massacre. Somebody had to look after this boy, Miff. But, why did that person, by some twist of fate, have to be her? She knew she wasn't ready for this.


	4. Yarye's Words

2

**Chapter Three **

**Yarye's Words **

"I guess we should find some food," said Ranga, later on that day. "We should head over to the Marketplace Plaza."

Okay," Miff agreed. "I guess it doesn't matter what we take because everybody is-"

"Shut-up" Ranga interjected.

Miff held up his hands. "Sorry," he said, non-apologetically.

"What I mean is that, we don't know that everyone is dead. People could still be alive, just hiding and afraid to come out."

"Oh," Miff said after a second. "Good point."

Once they entered the Plaza, they found a feast waiting, theirs for the taking. Fruits, meats, and desserts, piled high in carts.

Before Ranga could take one bite, however, she had to look for survivors. "Hello!" she called. She heard a moan behind her and spun around. Then she saw her.

"Yarye!" Ranga cried. Yarye was still alive, moaning faintly, and arrow sticking out of her back.

"Ranga?" she asked faintly. "Is that you?"

"Yes, Yarye," Ranga replied desperately, "I'm here."

"Ranga," said Yarye. "I-It was horrible. The archers. They-They came out of nowhere. They started shooting… people started screaming and running everywhere. Y-Your father. I was your father. H-He is evil. He…He is the… is the Dicta-" But Yarye never finished her sentence. She was silent as she died mid-word.

Ranga bent over Yarye. She felt a tear roll down her cheek. And another. And another. Before long, Ranga was sobbing uncontrollably.

She knew what had happened to Arng. She knew what had happened to her father. Her father was evil. Her father was the Dictator. She realized that she had always known about her father, somewhere in the back of her mind, in the farthest reaches of her consciousness, but she just couldn't accept it until now.

Her evil father had taken Arng. It was as simple as that, but oh! how Ranga wished it could be that simple. She knew what she had to do. She had to leave Ringory. She would get revenge for this gruesome crime. She would plunge herself into the unknown. She would save Arng. Somebody had to. And, by that twist of fate, that person had to be her.

Ranga felt a wave of despair wash over her. Why her? Why not Arng or Yarye or Aida? They could handle this great burden. Ranga was sure. But she could not.

I'm not alone, though, she reminded herself. I have Miff. And I have my drive. I will kill the Dictator. I will kill my "father". And I will save my brother.

Another wave of despair settled over Ranga. Would she be able to do it? She wasn't sure. She just didn't know.


	5. Leaving

3

**Chapter Four **

**Leaving **

"Come one," Ranga said later that day. They had taken Yarye's body into the woods and buried her in a clearing where Ranga and Yarye used to play when they were little. It was their favorite spot.

"What?" Miff asked, perplexed.

"We're leaving," Ranga clarified.

"Why?" Miff asked stubbornly. "There is no reason to leave. We have food and water and-"

"Why?" Ranga cut in curtly. "Because there is no reason to stay! There is nobody here! We buried Yarye and that was all we needed to do. Somebody might come back, and if they do, and if they see that there are still people alive, they'll probably kill us on sight. That's why!"

"Okay! Okay!" Miff said. "I get it. We're leaving Ringory. "

"Go find some supplies and some packs. Go through the houses. Find bedrolls, flint and steel, any kind of preserved food, and weapons. We'll need horses. I'll go to the stables. Bring everything back here and we'll put it all into the saddlebags. Got it?"

"Um, yeah," and Miff ran off.

Ranga worked her way through the houses collecting more supplies as she went. In the first house, she found a pack, three bedrolls, some preserved meat, and two broadswords, which she could barely lift. She took everything outside and put it on the stoop.

The girl moved quickly from house to house, gathering everything that could be of use and putting it by the doors. She eventually came to the stables.

The man who had owned the stables, Walter, had, for reasons unknown, decided to breed warhorses one year. He was a very skilled breeder and finer horses you could not find, save in the largest of cities with the finest of breeders. Ranga favored two horses above all others.

Nydyda-a beautiful mare with a pure golden coat and a long, flowing, chocolate brown mane- was, unquestionably, her favorite. She was the fastest horse in Ringory. Walter usually just showed her off; nobody in the village could afford to buy a horse this grand. They did not have the money since the Dictator came to power.

The other horse, Shadowfallon, was also a favorite of Ranga's, and nearly as grand as Nydyda. He was pure black, save for the pure white star on his face, perfectly centered, three inches above his bright, brown eyes. He was a beautiful; mustang, and the only horse to be found that could come close to rivaling Nydyda's speed.

Ranga quickly saddled the horses, taking the saddles with the largest saddlebags; they would need them for carrying the supplies.

She then worked her way back up the road, stopping at each house and loading the supplies into Nydyda's saddlebags. Despite the amount of supplies she collected, she only filled the saddlebags on Nydyda. Even so, the bags were bulging by the time she arrived back at the Plaza; the horse did not seem to be bothered by or even to notice the weight she was carrying.

Ranga arrived in the Plaza to find Miff alongside a large pile of supplies, his eyes got wide when he saw the horses, obviously recognizing the grandeur of the fine warhorses before him. Ranga interrupted his ogling with her curt words, her voice sharper than she meant it to be.

"Come on, Miff!" she said loudly, interrupting his contemplation. "Don't just stand there. Help me pack this stuff up!"

He seemed dazed for a moment, making sense of her words. Then, he quickly helped Ranga load the supplies into the Shadowfallon's saddlebags. When they were finished, Miff hesitated, deliberating.

Realizing what he was internally debating, Ranga said "I'm taking Nydyda," and she quickly mounted the monstrous beast, all the while, muttering to herself about how he couldn't even pick something as simple as a horse. "You take Shadowfallon."

Miff turned his gaze to the colossal mustang before him. Squaring his shoulders, he quickly scrambled into the saddle and mounted the horse, trying to preserve what dignity he had left.

"W-Where are we going?" he asked tersely, his voice quivering when Ranga turned er eyes toward him, revealing the venom in her gaze.

"Into the woods," she replied curtly. "I'm going to say my last goodbye to Yarye. Then we're gone." Miff closed his mouth and swallowed his words. He'd been preparing to speak, but he thought the better of it; he had no desire to unleash Ranga's fiery glare again.

Ranga wasn't aware of the tears coming, or the overabundance of moisture in her eyes, until it was spilling downing her cheeks. Ranga was in mourning. And it showed.


	6. Magic

2

**Chapter Five **

**Magic **

Ranga and Miff traveled to the ruins of her house, on the edge of Ringory, one last time. Ranga was suddenly aware that she would never see this place, her home, her entire world, again. This new revelation seized down on her with unexpected intensity and she felt the tears spilling over again.

After paying their respects to the villagers, piled and burned in a field behind what had once been Ranga's home, they made their way to the clearing that held Yarye's grave.

As Ranga dismounted Nydyda and made her way towards the mound of earth, the only evidence of Yarye's presence, she felt herself wishing with all her heart, soul, and being, that Yarye had been spared, that Yarye could be standing here, next to her, comforting her. That she could be comforting Yarye.

Ranga fell to her knees beside the grave and remembered all the good times she and Yarye had shared in Ranga and in this very clearing. The location Miff had found to bury Yarye had, in fact, been the girls' favorite spot to play when they were little. Some of Ranga's fondest memories were from being with Yarye in this small clearing. The irony of the situation was cruel. The spot where her favorite memories from when she was a kid had taken place was the very place where she was enduring the most anguish of her life. Of course, she wasn't going to tell Miff that. She said her final goodbye to Yarye and asked her to wait, wherever she was, for her. She would be joining her there soon.

Ranga got to her feet and began to turn back to Miff and the horses. Then she felt a tremor pass through the Earth. Before she could take a step, energy began to course through her. The energy subsided quickly but, before Ranga could wonder what had occurred, the energy was back, stronger than before.

It was a strange sensation. She could not decide if it felt good or bad. The energy pulsed through her in waves, carrying with it a bittersweet feeling of contentment. It felt as if Ranga were being buried in hot coals, her boy burned and her mind seemed to be exploding, over and over again, while, at the same time, a pleasant, warm feeling spread throughout her body. The feeling increased, becoming sharper, and the pain eventually outweighed the contentment. Ranga cried out the words that she instinctively knew she must.

"LIVE, YARYE!" Ranga screamed as loud as she could. The pain subsided immediately, but the contentment remained. There was a sudden earthquake. Ranga fell to the ground and squeezed he eyes shut.

She forced her eyes to open enough to see what was happening. Through the slits of her eyelids, she saw the dirt they had buried Yarye with rise up out of the ground, keeping its shape, and stop, ten feet above the new hole in the ground and stop. It seemed to hover there in mid-air for a moment, until, without warning; it exploded in all directions with a deafening bang, stripping all the surrounding of their bark.

Fighting every instinct she had, Ranga forced herself to her feet. Unseen forces were lifting something out of the hole where Yarye's grave had been. There was a light rising up, brighter than the sun. The light suddenly slumped on the ground and went out, revealing Yarye, crumpled on the ground, but alive and breathing!

Ranga had no idea what she had just witnessed. All she was aware of was the ground suddenly rushing up to meet her. She felt herself slipping into the void…


	7. Recognition

2

**Chapter Six **

**Recognition**

With a loud bang, the dirt exploded in every direction, stripping trees of their bark, leaving a ringing in Arng's ears. Then, a bright light brighter than the sun, rose out of the grave, causing Miff to cover his eyes to protect them from the light. Even with his eyes shut tightly, he could still tell when the light subsided. He heard a whoosh of breath leaving a person's lungs and raised his head to see Ranga and Yarye lying limply on the ground. What had just occurred, Miff had no idea.

"Ranga!" he screamed as he dismounted and stumbled to her side and touched her hand. It twitched, but Miff didn't pay any attention. "Ranga?" he repeated, getting more frantic. "Can you hear me? Wake up, Ranga!"

Then her hand began to quiver and shake. Then her arm, then her hand, until he entire body was convulsing wildly. A wordless scream of agony escaped Ranga's lips as she writhed and convulsed on the ground. Miff covered his ears and groaned. The force of the cry was piercing and it left his ears ringing long after it died.

He looked over to Yarye to see that she, too, had covered her ears to protect herself from Ranga's impossibly loud and shrill cry of agony. Then she was silent.

Yarye and Miff both moved to sit by her side. They found that she was still conscious, but biting her lip so hard that red liquid was running down his chin. It took Miff a moment to realize that the red liquid was blood. After what seemed like ages, Ranga eased whimpering and opened her eyes.

"Mmmmh," she moaned. "Go away. You're too bright! YOU'RE TOO BRIGHT!" She was screaming now, and pushing Yarye away.

Comprehension and understanding flooded Yarye, though her expression remained incredulous. "I'm hurting her?" she asked, horrified.

"Leave! You're too bright!" Ranga was shrieking now.

"Just back away," Miff advised. "Just get away from her. It must be an after affect of… whatever just happened." Reluctantly, Yarye backed away. Ranga seemed to be in less pain with the distance between them, but she was still clamping her eyes shut as hard as she could.

Eventually, Ranga's breathing became slower, less raged. Yarye took a step closer and saw that Ranga seemed to be in no pain. She returned to her friend's side and found that she was, once again, unconscious. Yarye sighed, sorry to see her friend, once so strong, now so weak, lying limply on the ground in front of her.

For the first time, Yarye actually looked at Miff. Rage tore through her mind and pure hatred filled her eyes.

"You," she snarled, quietly but fiercely. Miff felt a moment of pure fear as his stomach twisted into a tight knot.

Yarye continued to glare t him with a lethal glare that rivaled Ranga's. He hung his head.

"Me," he whispered back, ashamed.


End file.
